User blog:The Dragon Demands/Season 3 deleted scenes
The Season 3 deleted scenes were very underwhelming this year compared to Season 2, which included a lot of Loras scenes mourning Renly which were sorely lacking from the main episodes. Well that's a bit unfair: the Tywin-Pycelle deleted scene is amazing, but it already premiered at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. The deleted scenes are: *Tywin and Pycelle (deleted) *Jon Snow considers fleeing *Jon Snow meets Mance Rayder (extended) *Robb, Northern lords, and the Tullys at Riverrun (extended) *Small Council discusses the wildling threat (deleted) Well, we've seen the Tywin-Pycelle stuff - it's great, doesn't really add any "new" information but adds some firm interaction between the two. Also very well filmed (Tywin is fishing and clubbing the fish dead, as he plans how to kill the Tullys, mirroring how he was gutting a stag in Season 1 when he discussed usurping the Baratheons). Julian Glover has said the producers like it so much that they might even re-edit it into Season 4 (bit of a stretch given that Pycelle acts like he hasn't been officially reinstated to the Small Council yet, and the fish metaphor is lost...though I guess it works retroactively, and he still needs to take Riverrun itself). The Jon Snow fleeing scene deserved to be deleted. It's about 60 seconds long and adds absolutely nothing. The wildlings are asleep around a campfire on the southern side of the Wall - Jon starts to sneak away because, now that he's south of the Wall, it's approaching do-or-die moment when he needs to find a chance to really escape and get back to Castle Black. But he looks back and goes back to Ygritte to cuddle her while she's asleep. She mumbles that he woke her up when he hugs her, but he tells her to go back to sleep. This adds NOTHING and shouldn't have even been included as a deleted scene. Bizarrely, I can't even discern what was "extended" about the Jon Snow meeting Mance scene. I had hoped we'd see Mance singing as in the books, but my hopes were dashed. Truly, I didn't play both scenes next to each other, but I think maybe only one or two stray lines scattered throughout were even "new" - I think it was like a joke or two here and there like Tormund saying "ah, Mance is just annoyed that I look like more of a king than him."....I really can't tell what was changed. So at this point, we've got the deleted scene they already released months ago (which is great, but we've seen it). The other two scenes are actually new, but each is only 60 seconds long. Both are from "Walk of Punishment". Neither one is "extended" by intercutting with previous material: the Robb Stark one is a sixty second clip which starts before Edmure's introduction - which then includes all of the resulting four minutes of the scene - and they might as well for completion, but those four minutes aren't "deleted" material. Meanwhile, the Small Council scene apparently happens at the end of the council scene in that episode. First, Robb is congratulating Edmure for the Battle of Stone Mill, saying it will inspire hope throughout the Riverlands. Actual info is that Edmure says 400 Lannister soldiers died, and they took another 100 prisoner. Rickard Karstark complains that the Northmen have seen so much blood in the war at this point that extra "hope" at this point won't help them win (they're outnumbered and need soldiers). Robb does the usual formal bulshitting talking about how they're all serving justice, and they will avenge Rickard's sons just as they will avenge his father Ned and all else who fell to the Lannisters. He then asks the lords to leave so he can speak with Edmure in private...this immediately transitions into Edmure's first scene in that episode: as the door is even shutting, he starts talking about "something one of my lieutenants brought up about Stone Mill" -- apparently believing that Robb was actually praising him, but then Robb cuts him off and starts berating him that Stone Mill was a tactical success but a strategic disaster because they wanted to *trap* Gregor Clegane - all of this is the same footage from the episode, but it puts it all in a new context: Robb had praised Edmure for the sake of appearances in front of his other lords and lieutenants, but in private, is outright shouting at him that the Lannisters outnumber them so badly that they can afford to lose men (Note: As before, Edmure says the Lannisters lost 208 men, so what he was saying when Robb cut him off is that he inflicted a two to one kill ratio, not including captives). Nothing earth-shattering, but interestingly puts a previous scene in a new light. Second, really the only interesting new one, is the Small Council. Tywin (apparently just after Tyrion is told he'll be the new Master of Coin) asks if there is any other news to report. Pycelle says that many of the Gold Cloaks who deserted their posts during the Battle of the Blackwater have been sneaking back into the barracks, hoping to be reinstated. Cersei says that "their cowardice put the king's life in danger" during the battle, and should all be executed. Think on that, btw. It's great, a detail of Cersei I love from the books: she's so self-centered and delusional that she has a very selective memory. It was Joffrey who abandoned the walls during the battle, because she ordered him too. The Gold Cloaks only started fleeing when they saw Joffrey abandon them, at which point they lost heart. Cousin Lancel even directly told Cersei that this is what was happening! She gets the order of events all wrong. Brilliant. Classic Cersei. At any rate, Varys (in full fawning mode) interjects that of course they deserve death, but maybe it would be wiser to ship them off to the Night's Watch: after all (as he reported to the council in Season 2) the wildlings seem to be on the move under a new King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder. Tyrion firmly agrees with Varys, pointing out that the Night's Watch is severely undermanned (which he knows because he actually visited it in Season 1 and they begged him for aid - though this doesn't quite match his apparent lack of concern back at the start of Season 2...maybe he's more willing to aid them now that the Baratheon threat is removed). Anyway, Tyrion says the Night's Watch is severely undermanned, and that should the Wall fail -- but then his father cuts him off and says the wildlings will flood the North. Tywin points out that if the wildlings invade the North, it will give both Robb Stark and Balon Greyjoy (who has occupied the west coast) someone else to attack (besides each other). Yeah, if you think about it, why would they send men to take the black when the North and ironborn are between them and the wildlings? Even if the King-Beyond-the-Wall has a great army, I think they assume that it won't be able to stand against the large, heavily armored armies of southern Westeros. Anyway, Tywin closes by saying that hey, they might even send an envoy into the frozen wastes to treat with this Mance Rayder - he's sort of being half-sarcastic, half-"why not?"...but it's mostly another jab at Tyrion, as Cersei points out that sending Tyrion on a dangerous mission would be a great job if his new one doesn't work out. Overall I was excited for deleted scenes but we didn't really get much this season...well, the Pycelle one is great, but it doesn't feel "new" because it's been out so long. What I *hoped for* all this time was how Bryan Cogman said he *scripted* scenes of Loras mourning Renly in "Kissed by Fire" but they were cut for time -- it appears they weren't even filmed.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 01:51, February 19, 2014 (UTC) Category:Blog posts